


The Truth About Hermione Granger

by MimsyStigg



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 08:20:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18687703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MimsyStigg/pseuds/MimsyStigg
Summary: Everyone has a backstory.It just so happens that Hermione Granger's is more complicated than most...





	1. Prologue

Years later, Professor Dumbledore would question him about the girl. 

He would ask what had become of her and where she had been sent.

Snape would be polite, but evasive. He suspected the old man already knew.

That would be it. 

She would not be mentioned again for a long time. 

There were, after all, more pressing matters at hand. 

Until finally, it came.

It was the year Harry Potter would come to Hogwarts.

It was the year he would finally see her again.


	2. The Bundle on the Steps

Harry Potter would still have been living under the stairs when all this happened. Still unaware of the magical world and oblivious to the small girl, curled up in a doorway on Spinners End.

It would be another 3 hours until she was found. Whoever had left her had not accounted for the cold of the early mid-August morning. 

She would be freezing when he found her.

He would never forget the sight: lips blue with cold, arms wrapped around her tiny frame, fingers clinging desperately to the blanket she had been wrapped in.

She was thin and pale: lifeless. Severus nudged her with the toe of his steel capped boot and the girl let out a small sound. It could hardly be called a breath but at least she was alive. Wrapping her in his arms he took a wary look around before bundling the child inside.

His examination showed severe hypothermia. 

No sign of poisoning or magical illness. 

If he acted quickly she would live. 

He held the warming draught to her lips and rubbed her neck gently, helping the liquid slide down her throat. After a while she began to come round and could swallow freely. 

He felt her stretch a little, saw her muscles tense as she yawned and then...

Then she was awake.

 

\------------------------------

 

Delphi opened her eyes and was surprised to find herself staring into the cold black gaze of a stranger. 

He had long, greasy hair and an abnormally large nose.

He looked worried.

She tried to speak but her voice was hoarse.

“I... where am I?” She rasped.

The tall man swallowed hard before speaking. 

“Somebody left you here.” He said and his voice was even and unreadable, though not unkind. “You were sick. I took you inside.” He seemed wary of what he was saying, afraid the child would get the wrong idea and think he planned to hurt her. 

The thought crossed Delphi’s mind but she brushed it away. If he wanted to harm her there was nothing she could do to stop him. She was only six and still slight for her age. This man was easily twice her size. 

Her only option was to trust him.

“Do you have any idea who took you here?” He said at last.

“I... I don’t know.” 

“What is the last thing you remember?”

Delphi’s nose wrinkled in concentration. The Professor held his breath afraid of her answer. Whoever had left her here must have known where he lived. They must have planned for him to find her, to take her in. Planned for him to do exactly as he had. He lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. Whoever had done this, whatever their reasoning, he was playing right into their hands.

“I don’t remember... I don’t know.” She said and he could tell the child was panicking at her lack of memory, he could see the terror building in her eyes but was unsure what to do to ease the fear. Unsure, he placed a wary hand on her shoulder and the girl looked up at him in terror. He pulled away.

She had been obliviated. 

He was sure of it. But why? What had the girl been witness to that her memory would need to be wiped? He could tell that she had been badly hurt, the look in eyes gave that much away.

The rest was still a mystery.

“What is your name?” He asked gently.

The girl looked up. She did not seem confused this time. “Delphi.” She said.

“Your last name?” 

“I- I don’t know.”

Severus nodded and waved his hand dismissively. “My name is Professor Snape.” He said. “I work at Hogwarts. Do you know what that is?”

“A school.”

“You’ve heard of it?” 

The young girl nodded, then shook her head. “Yes... I... I don’t know... I just... I’ve heard of it... I can’t remember how.”

The Professor gave her what he hoped could pass as a reassuring look or at least a less imposing one than the cold stare he usually wore.

“I am going to contact someone to help you." He said. "His name is Dumbledore.” 

Almost as an afterthought he added: “Are you hungry?”

The girl shook her head, hands curled in her lap. Snape watched her through narrowed eyes. She was lying. Perhaps she thought he would poison her.

“Very well.” He said walking towards the old fireplace at the end of the room.

He hoped Dumbledore would be at Hogwarts when his head appeared in the green flames of the Headmaster’s office.

It would be the quickest way to contact the old man

And he needed help.


	3. The Headmaster's Visit

Albus arrived within the hour. 

Delphi seemed to trust the headmaster and accepted gratefully when he offered her a packet of muggle toffees. Professor Snape supposed it was the old man’s eyes that made him look more ethical, that blasted twinkle, well at least it had got the girl to eat.

And some of her confidence in the old man seemed to be rubbing off on Snape. She was more open when he questioned her and quite a few details of her memory were recovered.

She knew her name was Delphini, she was six years old, she knew about magic and Hogwarts and the Floo network. Although she could not remember where she had learnt any of it.

“Where are your parents?” Dumbledore asked kindly. “They must be worried sick about you.” The old man didn’t sound like he believed his own words, he probably suspected the same as Snape: the girl’s parents had been in on it somehow. 

“I don’t know.” She said. “I can’t remember them.”

She did not seem particularly distressed by this fact.

The two men left Delphi in the living room and headed to the kitchen to talk. Dumbledore cast a silencing charm around the room after they had entered.

“I don’t know what to make of it.” He said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them with the sleeve of his robe. “I’ll go to the ministry, check if any Delphini was born within the last ten years but I don’t expect to find much.”

Professor Snape crossed his arms tightly and leaned back on the small kitchen table. “You think whoever bought her here destroyed her Ministry papers?” he asked, feigning nonchalance. 

Dumbledore shrugged. “I don’t know what to think Severus. This is not a normal situation.” The old man shook his head before replacing his half moon glasses. “I must be getting back. I will visit as soon as I have news. Make sure she eats Severus. The girl is remarkably thin.”

Snape lifted an eyebrow. “You can’t expect me to keep her here Albus!” His voice was incredulous: disbelieving.

“You must.” The Headmaster said sternly with an air that told Snape the matter was already settled.

“It’s not safe Albus. What if whoever left her here comes back?” Surely this was some kind of joke.

Dumbledore smiled cheerlessly. “I suggest you increase your wards, Severus.”

Dumbledore walked to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of floo powder.

“Goodbye Severus. Goodbye Delphini.” He ignored Snape’s sullen glare.

“Goodbye Dumbledore!” The girl said quietly and with a puff of green smoke the Old Man was gone.

Bloody Dumbledore! What was he supposed to do now?

 

\------------------------------

 

As much as he wanted to punch the old man, Severus took the Headmaster’s advice and added several new layers of wards to the outside of the house. They would alert him if anyone tried to enter; he just hoped it would be enough.

When he had finished he turned to the girl, who was watching his glowing wand with wide eyes.

Snape narrowed his own dark coals. 

“Dumbledore has required.” He said sternly, emphasising the fact that this was not a decision he would have made given any choice. “That you are to stay here for the time being. As this is my home and I am less than ecstatic about sharing it with you. I have a few expectations.”

The girl nodded and her brown eyes sunk back a little.

“You will stay in the guest bedroom.” He said, his voice a little gentler than before. “I can... edit it to your taste.” He thought of the dusty furniture in the room at the moment. There was no way the girl could sleep in there, even if it was only for a day or two. 

He prayed it would be. 

“While you are here you will eat, sleep and bath when I tell you. You will not disturb me unless it is an emergency and you will be quiet.” He raised his eyebrows at the girl who remained silent. It looked like “quiet” would not be an issue.

“Very well.” He said, waving his hand and motioning for the child to follow him upstairs...


	4. A New Room

It wasn’t until Snape got upstairs that he realised how cluttered the guest bedroom had become. 

Casting a quick scourgify, he cleared the dust that had built up in the small room overtime and set about altering the furniture.

The old wooden bed became a new, clean one with fresh blue sheets. He transfigured the curtains to match and created a few shelves onto which the books from his years at Hogwarts arranged themselves. He added a chest of drawers for her clothes and then realised that the child had only what she was wearing.

He decided to leave it. The room looked bare enough as it was. 

He turned to Delphi. “Alright?” He asked.

“Yes.” She said quietly. “Thank you Professor Snape.”

He nodded curtly.

It was still only 10am by this point. Severus had no idea what to do to keep the girl busy. 

“Do you like to read?” He asked.

Delphi nodded.

Professor Snape shrugged apologetically. “I don’t own any children’s books but you may read anything you wish from this room. If you need me I will be in the study downstairs. Otherwise I will call you at lunch and I expect you to eat something Miss...” Severus paused. He was so used to calling his students by their last names it had just slipped out. It felt odd to use the child’s given name: too informal... too intimate. 

“Delphi.” He finished.

“Yes Professor Snape.” The girl said. At least she wasn’t calling him Severus.

Small mercies.

 

\------------------------------

 

Once the man had gone downstairs, Delphi set about finding something to good to read. 

Snape was right. There weren’t any children’s books but she thought she might as well try to read one of the books he did have. After all, there wasn’t much else to do.

The girl looked up at the shelves Snape had conjured a few moments ago. They were crowded with books of all colours and sizes. A particularly large one caught her eye. 

It was blue and the spine showed it had been read many times before. Delphi had to stand on the bed to reach it. When she finally got it down she turned it over and stared at the front cover:

“Hogwarts a History.” 

She sat cross legged on the bed, opened the book and began to read. “Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, located in the Scottish Highlands, was founded in the 10th Century AD...”

 

\------------------------------

 

He couldn’t work. 

He had been planning to use the day somewhat productively: there were student essays from the last year still to be marked. But now all he could think about was the girl upstairs and how on earth she had got here.

He waited until twelve and then decided it was time they ate, if only to give himself something to do.

He walked up the stairs slowly and knocked on the door.

There was no reply.

He knocked again, louder this time.

Still nothing.

He opened the door slowly and was shocked by the sight that met him...


	5. Uh Oh

The girl was lying on her stomach in the centre of the room, surrounded by at least thirty open books.

Snape waited for his immediate shock to be replaced by anger. 

Then he spoke.

“What exactly do you think you are doing up here?” He said through tightly clenched teeth and his words seemed to shake the child from her trance like state because she sat up, drawing her knees close to her chest, staring at him wide eyed and frightened.

She said nothing.

“Those are books." He said sternly "Not toys. What possessed you to get them all down?” He glared at the girl and the weight of his angry stare at last encouraged to speak.

“I wanted to read them.” She said, hanging her head in shame.

Professor Snape shook his head in disbelief.

“It is time for lunch.” He said at last.


End file.
